Shares in Gateway, the computer maker, gained almost 8 per cent yesterday on speculation that the company could find itself a takeover target following Lenovo's proposed bid for Packard Bell, its European-based rival.

Packard Bell is owned by Lap Shun Hui, the Chinese-born businessman who also has a stake of just under 3 per cent in Gateway.

An acquisition of Packard Bell would allow Lenovo, the Chinese-based third-largest maker of personal computers, to boost its presence in China, a region where it is only the sixth largest PC maker and barely profitable.

Analysts have been cautious about assigning a valuation to Packard Bell, but a figure of up to $800 million has been touted.

Earlier this week, Lenovo said that it is in talks "with a third party" over a possible takeover bid for Packard Bell.

The Chinese company did not name the third party and gave warning that a deal may not emerge.

It is thought that Packard Bell is also being courted by Acer, Lenovo’s Taiwan-based rival. Acer said earlier this year that it would look at buying a rival PC maker in order to boost market share and accelerate growth.

Acer has so far declined so far to identify a target, but has suggested that it would not be an American or Taiwanese company.

NEC, the Japanese electronics group, sold Paris-based Packard Bell to Mr Hui, the former owner of eMachines, the computer company, in September. Details were not disclosed, but one source said the deal is thought to have been worth about $90 million.

Mr Hui made his name in 2002, when he invested about $160 million in eMachines and took the company private. He sold the company the next year to Gateway, the PC maker, for $290 million in cash and stock. In August he made a $450 million bid for Gateway’s retail business but was rebuffed.

He retains a stake in Gateway.

In the final full year before Mr Hui took over the group, Packard Bell had sales of about €1.28 billion and broke even.

For Lenovo, the acquisition of Packard Bell would be its highest-profile move since it bought IBM’s PC division in December 2004 for $1.75 billion.

Winning Packard Bell, which has been making good headway in Europe so far this year, according to analysts, would hand either Acer or Lenovo a key advantage over the other.

The pair are currently locked in a fierce battle for the third spot in the global rankings of PC makers, trailing Hewlett Packard and Dell.

Lenovo fell to fourth place globally in the first three months of this year but has now won back the No. 3 slot from Acer, according to Gartner and IDC, the market researchers.

Lenovo said in a statement that it is negotiating with an unnamed third party, as well as working with other parties or government bodies "in preparation for the entering into of definitive agreements for such proposed acquisition [of Packard Bell]."

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